20 • SKIN DEEP MAGAZINE
AS ABOVE, SO BELOW
himself mostly aligned to the Tibetan Buddhist way of thinking, in
particular what’s known within the Vajrayana school as ‘deity yoga’.
“The many deities that represent our endeavours and struggles in
life speak to me profoundly.” He has also been drawn to the Lakota
Native American tradition but feels he needs to tread cautiously
there. “These ways are not part of my own cultural heritage, so I only
pursue them when invited and with a humble heart.”
Humility is something that resonates throughout my whole conver-
sation with Aries—it’s very much part and parcel of everything that
goes on at All Sacred, in fact. While the spiritual nature of tattooing is
very important here, Aries and the crew are not evangelical about it. “I
allow for as much or as little ritual that my clients desire when getting
tattooed. I never impose my own spirituality beyond meditating on un-
derstanding from the tattoo and a positive outcome for the person re-
ceiving it.” For Aries, this is important in order to create a safe as well as
sacred space for the tattoo process—“free of judgement and negativity.”
Of course, one of the most important aspects within any spiritual
practice is to bring the changes you manifest within yourself into eve-
ryday life, the ‘good works’ aspect of the mission, if you like. For Ar-
ies and the gang at All Sacred, this manifests through their Homeless
Drive Initiative. I asked Aries how this project came about and as to
whether, for him, it’s an important element of his spirituality or an
important element of his humanity—or both. “It is spiritual and hu-
man,” he tells me, pointing out how, as an artist, he feels very much de-
pendent on the support of his community and so wants to reciprocate
where he can. “I have done my best at every opportunity to take any
success or abundance I receive and share it with those less fortunate,”
he explains. “We’re living in a time of self-obsession and self-seeking
and I am not immune to that kind of thinking myself. I do strive, how-
ever, to seek out ways in which myself and those I work with can allevi-
ate some of the suffering and unfair distribution of wealth and power
in our society.” The result is a radical campaign to raise awareness and
support for local organisations working to combat homelessness. “If
everyone gave a day of their month in volunteering or donating their
services,” Aries points out, “we would solve many of the problems weface in our communities.”
Moving forward, Aries wants to further em-
bed this communitarian ideology into life at All
Sacred. “We’re finishing renovations on a new
studio this summer that can be used to house
our fundraising events as well as provide a plat-
form for artists, musicians and other creatives
to work together and raise aid and awareness
for the issues and problems we all care about.
We have partnered on the building project with
Ritualcravt, a metaphysical and witchcraft
store created by my wife, Missy Rhysing, and
her amazing family. It’s going to be the most
challenging thing we have ever done, but we’re
so excited to bring the many communities we
are part of together to realise this vision.”
The mission continues. i witness the most
amazing transcendence
through the work i do